The state of New York has released a contact tracing app for smartphones focused on COVID-19, offering residents and those who work or go to school in New York or New Jersey alerts if they have been in close contact with anyone who has been infected. The site encourages as many residents as possible to download the app to help prevent further spread of the virus.
COVID-19 reared its head in early 2020 and has since spread globally to a worldwide pandemic unseen in this lifetime. At the early stages of the outbreak this past March, New York City was a hotbed for infections averaging 10,000 new cases of infection every day while peaking mid-April with over 11,500 confirmed. The states numbers have dropped significantly since then, but such a large population has still led to tragic numbers. Statewide this year, over 465,000 residents have been infected and nearly 33,000 have succumbed to the deadly virus.
According to the New York state coronavirus information website, COVID Alert NY is a voluntary, anonymous, exposure-notification app. The app sends an alert if you were in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Knowing about a potential exposure allows people to self-quarantine immediately, get tested and reduce the potential exposure to others. In theory, the more people in these areas that download the COVID Alert NY app, the more effective it will be. However, some may be reluctant to share information with the state about their whereabouts or other personal information. Here's everything you need to know.
COVID Alert NY: Voluntary, Anonymous & Hopefully Effective
While the app does seem like it would need to monitor a person's location in order to work effectively, that is not necessarily the case. The state's page makes a point several times to say that the app is anonymous and privacy is of the utmost importance. How it actually works is a person's phone with the app exchanges a secure random code with any other app equipped phone to record that they were in close proximity. This is done simply through Bluetooth, not through GPS or satellite data. According to the site, the COVID Alert NY app will never collect, transmit or store any personal information. The developer's choice to use Bluetooth, random codes exchanged between devices, and anonymous user identities shows good faith from the state of New York, keeping true to its word on privacy precautions.
Another key feature is the alerts themselves. Owners of the free app have full control to activate or deactivate exposure notifications at any time. So if they plan to be out and about for a weekend its easy to keep their guard up and track who they've been within six feet of (anonymously of course), but if someone is going up to their cabin away from civilization for a couple weeks, it's easy to turn those notifications off as well. All in all, the app's central focus is to help the state's residents stay safe and informed as people start to venture back out into society more and more after seemingly endless months of isolation. The app's focus on anonymity and privacy to simply track a person's proximity to others via Bluetooth is genuinely to help that person stay safe and luckily not be tracked by anyone.
Source: NY State Dept. of Health